Every city or town is formed, in part, by the industries which develop it. People create
a community and sense of place based on shared goals and experiences. Over time
these features develop a history, a legacy, and a heritage.

Kenton is no exception. The story of Kenton mirrors that of the entire Northwest
through it’s connection with ports, timber, and agriculture. A unique combination of
location and industry has crafted the story of Kenton. The people of Kenton have lived
and guided its path. This heritage is still with us today in the feeling of community, the
sense of history, the architecture, and the routes we take through our day.

Recently Figure Plant joined forces with the good folks over at the Northwood Apartments to create this 8′ x 20′ art piece for their lobby, celebrating Kenton’s History.

Probably my largest wall art to date. It was a pleasure to work with Mary Hanlon of the Northwood and, as always, the Figure Plant team. Here’s the project description on FigurePlant.com.

Two versions of an entirely mechanical vending machine; one which rotates the product in front of a hinged opening (above), and another which added a bellows-powered nozzle that could be aimed at a particular bag of chips and blow it down to the drawer below. It was super fun working with Figure Plant on the design, and then illustrating it in this style.

A lot of intense design work went into the making of Sunset Overdrive for Xbox, making it that much more satisfying to recreate these digital weapons in the real world. Not only did Figure Plant have to match the look of the game, each piece had to be functional! With names like TNTeddy, Hack N Slay, Pyro Geyser, and the Roman Candle Gun you can imagine the kind of fun challenges we were up against. Here’s a few shots from the studio.

When you regularly convert vehicles and build custom mechanical objects, you end up with an assortment of interesting spare parts, making Figure Plant the perfect place to put these weapons together!

This was a great project even before there was fire and hilarious destruction, which is to say that the shoot was awesomely entertaining. You can see the completed weapons and blow shit up with them in Walter’s Workshop! Here’s a behind the scenes video from our partner’s in crime over at Kamp Grizzly:

Art Director Kate Madden assigned a series of cartoon Sasquatch illustrations, a variety of more realistic animal illustrations, and a full page map of the Mount St. Helens area. It was a lot of fun to work in different styles, and then to see them come together in such an interesting and good looking feature!

Squatch takes part in a variety of outdoor activities, navigating the area, observing and photgraphing the unique landscape, and teaching us about it’s history.

Now that the 2014 event is creeping ever closer with more meetings, events, camp planning and the like; it’s time for the third and final post on 2013’s Burn.

Here’s a look at my honorarium art project “Matahari Riset.” Made possible with a grant from Burning Man, and the help and patience of my partner and many dear friends. Thanks to Additive Workshop and Figure Plant for the generous use of their fabrication facilities.

It didn’t take long for him to go native. If you happened to get your picture taken with him please do let me know; I’d love to see them!